Wow - we’re finally at the end of The Drowning Empire Trilogy. This story has been a journey and the finale is no exception. The stakes are higher and the plot closes in tighter and tighter until we reach the climax of Stewart’s trilogy. We also get all the characters we know and love and damn, it’s a good send off, even if it’s still hard to say goodbye.

I will say, it’s likely best to read the series one after the other, and not a year between each one, because especially in The Bone Shard War, we’re tossed right back into the action. I personally would have appreciated more of a recap in the first 5-10% of the book. However, if you’re reading the books back to back,I don’t think you’ll have a difficult time at all.

Despite my difficulty to get back into the world and figure out what was going on again, once I was back in the groove of the story - wow it really took off! This book is over 600 pages, but it genuinely does not feel like such a chunky tome and I flew through the story and could not put this book down.

The twists are back and there are some moments where the story gets much darker than I expected, especially with Nisong’s storyline. But I think every plot thread that was planted throughout the trilogy gets a satisfying ending (even though I did worry a few times about some of our favourite characters).

I’m not a fan of the romance that was shoved between Lin and Jovis (granted, I’m Aro so take that where you will) - but still I found the bittersweet ending we got with them to be moderately satisfying. I would still have preferred if they had remained friends the entire time - but I won’t spoil what actually ends up happening between them. It was an adequate sign off for them, in my opinion.

But my favourite couple, Phalue and Ranami, go through it and the pinningggggggg ugh so frickin good!! There are so many feelings and they solidified themselves without a doubt as my favourite pairing in the entire series. Ugh, I love them so much!!

Overall, The Bone Shard War is the finale this series deserved and it was so fun to read. It was a bit hard to get back into the story at the beginning, having read The Bone Shard Emperor over a year ago - but the characters we know and love welcome us back in after that first speed bump and the story just takes off from there. The Bone Shard War is a satisfying conclusion to The Drowning Empire trilogy and I’m gonna miss the characters for sure.

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*Thank‌ ‌you‌ Orbit Books ‌and‌ ‌NetGalley‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Upon first picking this up, I thought I was going to have to do a total re-read/skim read of the first two books because I didn’t know who the characters were. Being the stubborn person I am, I decided to push through a few chapters and see if things came back to me. They did. I honestly can’t believe how quickly I ended up reading this book because I vaguely remember not loving the second book and sort of trudging through it. I really like this installment and how the trilogy wrapped up!
The story begins two years after the events of The Bone Shard Emperor. Lin Sukai defeated Nisong and her constructs, but the empire is still hanging by a thread. Dione and the Shardless Few still want to see Lin dethroned and a council installed in her place. Nisong is still alive and traveling with Ragan, an unstable Alanga who seems to just want the world burning around him. Jovis is a slave to Kaphra, leader of the criminal organization called the Ioph Karn, and is being used to destroy ships, towns, etc. Ranami, our final POV, is trying to keep her island running but the Shardless Few move in and capture her.
Despite the tremendous number of points of view and secondary characters, I was easily able to keep everyone straight because they all have well developed motives and personalities. The ossalen are still my absolute favorites, though Mephi, Thrana, and Lozhi have the most well developed characterization. I had a few frustrations with Lin, namely that she got bamboozled like three separate times by people distracting her with conversation while they snuck around behind her back. Jovis’s chapters were probably some of my favorites thanks to a great blend of action and emotion (he just wanted to be with Mephi and ensure his safety!). Ragan firmly cemented his role as utter shit bag, but that’s not really news.
This was a solid and satisfying conclusion to The Drowned Empire trilogy. The ending in particular I think wrapped up all the little plot threads and was pleasant without being an unbelievable happy ever after. Like, these characters have suffered for years and things were kind of a mess in the empire, so I think a sappy sweet ending would have just felt convenient and unrealistic. The somewhat bittersweet, complicated ending we got was exactly what the story needed! I am looking forward to Andrea Stewart’s future creative projects, as I think she’ll only get better from here!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for allowing me to write an honest review of this eARC and ALC. I highly recommend listening AND reading along with this amazing story. The full cast of narrators continues to make this an even more rich setting than it already was on the written page.

What a delightful end to this wonderful trilogy. Endings are tough for me to stomach, which says more about me than it does anything else. I adored the first two books in this trilogy and I was struggling to say goodbye to the characters that I loved so much. It was, however, a phenomenal ending despite the tinge of bittersweet. My rule of thumb is that a book gets five stars if it makes me FEEL things and this made me feel all kinds of things. I cried. I gasped aloud. I got angry. I laughed.

I would be shocked if anyone who loved the first two did not adore this one. The storytelling and world-building continue to be excellently crafted and our beloved characters grow and bond with one another in wonderful ways. And while endings are difficult, this was worth the anxiety of saying goodbye (for now). I will absolutely be adding this trilogy to my shelves so that I can reread it over and over.

Thank you Andrea Stewart for giving us this wonderful world and these complex characters. They have my whole heart.

Andrea Stewart did the very difficult task of successfully writing a trilogy with all three books feeling like a necessary part of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I was sad when it was over. However, I think the story was told the way it should have been told, and while I wanted to stay in the world longer, I think more books would have been excessive.

The beginning was a bit confusing, because it is not as explicit about the time jump as it needs to be. I initially felt like I had forgotten a large chunk of the ending of book two. Once I figured out that there was a time jump, it was less confusing, but it was a frustrating way to begin the book.

Stewart wrote an extremely compelling and unique world for this series, and the only issue with this was wanting to know more. I had a lot of questions regarding the How and Why behind some of the magic and the backstory. I think there's a difficult line between writing enough backstory and not enough, and I think Stewart struggled a bit in some of this. Some of my questions were answered very implicitly rather than explicitly - making it difficult to remember 100+ pages down the line.

The characters I struggled the most with in regards to their backstories were Ragan and Nisong. I wanted to know more about their background and their motivations, and felt like these would have added to the story. I know, however, that they are not the main characters, and I think adding to their backstory risked crossing into the territory of making the book too long and too info dump-y. So ultimately I feel Stewart made the right decision in leaving some of this for the reader to ponder.

Ultimately, this was a very strong and successful conclusion to a great series, and I will continue to recommend this series widely! The magic system is so unique and the world is so intriguing that I felt so immersed, and I will continue to read this author the moment her next book is out!

***3 Stars***

Overall,
I was really looking forward to the finale of this trilogy, and while it answered a lot of questions I found it quite long and slow in many parts. A good chunk of this book is running around from place to place chasing their own tails. The ending was satisfying, if not a little bitter sweet. There were definitely a few big surprises that were enjoyable. The writing as with the other two books in this series is well done. The world building and explanations of how some of the magic works was interesting. In the end though this book took a lot of effort for me to get through, I felt pretty disengaged with some of the characters and since it is a multi POV I found that I didn't care about what some of the characters were doing. #Ilovemephi

Recommendation,
Definitely read this to complete the series. If you are reading this review and trying to decide if you want to start the series at all, I would say yes, if you like political fantasy.

***I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Orbit in exchange for my free and honest review***

The Drowning Empire Series by Andrea Stewart. 4 stars

The bare bones (pun intended): this series follows Lin, Jovis, Mephi and crew through three years of an island based Empire struggling with tyrannical rulers, rebels, revolution, and the reemergence of feared magical beings long thought to be eliminated.

I don’t want to give anything away, as there are many twists and turns throughout the series, but if you like the idea of corrupt monarchies, power hungry uprisings, magic using the literal bones of a nation, and custom-built Frankenstein-like creations coded to do your bidding, this may just be for you!

There’s so much magic, intrigue, and of course the adorable steal-the show-furry-sidekicks. Mephi has my whole heart.

- The Bone Shard Daughter 4 stars
- The Bone Shard Emperor 4.5 stars
- The Bone Shard War 4 stars

This trilogy is a beautifully moving, dark and immersive debut by Andrea Stewart, and I’m excited to see what she does next.

The Bone Shard War is an epic conclusion to the saga. Though admittedly it is not my favourite in the series, I think it offers a lot of answers, and brings a satisfying ending.

I loved the magic, the character growth, but the non-stop action can be challenging to fully invest into for over 500 pages. A little quiet time (a little happy time) would have been a nice addition. And that ending?! Needed some tissues and maybe a call to my therapist.

Thank you to Orbit Books, NetGalley and Andrea Stewart for an advanced electronic copy of The Bone Shard War. The final book in this trilogy comes out on April 18th.

This book is the final book in the Bone Shard trilogy, and in my opinion, the best of the three, which is always an incredible achievement for a high fantasy trilogy.

There was a lot to wrap up well here. One of the strengths of this series is the characters and the connections formed across books that came to fruition in the plot of the Bone Shard War. We saw true character growth, particularly from Ranami and Jovis, and even some change from characters, that felt completely earned.

I liked Books 1 and 2. Book 1 sets up a highly interesting world with quite a few mysteries, while Book 2 expands our knowledge of the world and gives us new characters whose motivations come to matter a great deal.

However this book was even stronger to me because it doesn’t let characters simply get stuck in past patterns for the sake of plot devices (ok except for Lin trying to persuade someone who disagrees with her only to be distracted from their plans…this happened 2 too many times), and the magic is actually fully explained as well, in a really satisfying way too, which I think is rare.

This series has a lot of heart, the best talking animals (who are NOT pets do not offend them), and some incredible worldbuilding. Don’t miss it!

Wow! A thrilling and well thought out conclusion to an amazing trilogy! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

The action started immediately when the book began. You're immediately trusted right back into battle with familiar characters. The timeline makes it clear pretty quickly where you fall in relation to the story so you feel caught up really quickly. Character development was present for all the main characters and I definitely had strong feelings for every storyline present. The plot was highly developed and fast paced through the book. Yet, it was so well done that I never found myself confused. I was stressed by the tension of the unknown for pretty much the entire book. I did not find this book as predictable as book one, which is excellent for the last book in a trilogy.

Overall I have to say this was the best book of the The in The Drowning Empire Series. Bravo and well done.

Bone Shard War is a thrilling and satisfying ending to the Drowning Empire trilogy.

Picking up several years after the events of the Bone Shard Emperor, this final novel in Stewart’s trilogy shifts between the points of view of multiple favorite characters, including Lin, Jovis, Ranami, and Nisong. Through them, we learn of multiple enemies of Lin’s that are seeking revenge and a rise to power and a race to recover a series of white bladed swords that can permanently hurt and even destroy Alanga.

Beautifully written with the same cadence and flow of her first two novels, Bone Shard War remains true to its main cast of characters. Nothing is black and white and their heroics and their faults are clearly visible.

My only complaints is that the first half of the novel seemed a bit repetitive in the actions and none of the characters ever seemed to learn from their mistakes. This dragged the story for a bit too long for my liking and I would have cut out about 200 pages to speed up the action. Also, there were just too many villains to keep track of, but again that’s a personal preference.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend the series to anyone who loves fantasy with unique magic and world building.

Thank you to NetGalley, Orbit Books, and Andrea Stewart for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

A satisfying final installment to The Drowning Empire Trilogy. The story builds and builds, and at a few points I worried that it would end abruptly, tied in a too neat bow. However, while some of the story lines are sad I still felt like the ending was what it needed to be.

The pacing at the beginning is a little jarring due to the two year time jump, and at this point we’re following multiple stories and points of view. That being said, I don’t think there were any wasted chapters. There were still plenty of reveals and “aha!” moments that answered most questions and tied things together.

Stewart’s strength in the trilogy is her ability to build her characters and display their struggles with morality, loyalty, and duty. The character arcs and story lines maintained across all three books. By the end I even felt sympathy for characters that I thought were irredeemable.

I listened to the first two books, and did a combo read/listen for the final. There are three narrators for the audiobooks, and they are outstanding! I’m a bit of a paperback princess, but I highly recommend the audiobooks if you have the option or preference.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC!

4⭐️

Set two years following Jovis leaving to rescue Mephi, Lin Sinai finds herself without many allies. Jovis is assumed dead, the governors of the Empire are regularly plotting to overthrow her reign, the Shardless Few have doubled down on their efforts to take over the empire, and Nisong has paired with Ragan, using bone shard magic to control the Alanga.

After learning of the legend of seven mythic swords that can kill Alanga, Lin and her few allies must work to track them down before Ragan does and the Phoenix Empire crumbles.

This was probably my favorite of the Drowning Empire Trilogy. With the small time jump, you really see the growth of the characters, especially Ranami and Jovis. I feel like Jovis was able to come full circle from a smuggler who is paid to save children to someone who is willing to put himself danger just to save others. I definitely cried about Jovis’ story in this book.

I loved that we got the full history and explanation of the Ossalen and why they are so important. I would read a whole series of spinoffs of just Mephi, Thrana and Shark. All around, this was a great conclusion to this series!

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for providing this arc to me for a honest review!

This final book was jam packed with action, hard choices, heartbreaking moments, tender interludes, and surprising reveals. We also see so much character growth from Lin, Nisong, Ranami, and Jovis. The battles (of which there were many) were all epic. I teared up and fully cried several times.
This was such a beautiful and epic end to the story. We earned all the endings we got, and I’m happy with where everyone ended up, even if many tears were shed to get there. And Mephi will always have my whole heart.

Fast-paced, action-packed and unforgettable, The Bone Shard War was a fitting conclusion to a fantastic debut trilogy.

Plot
Everything about this series kept me on my toes, jumping from plot point to plot point in a way that kept me desperate to catch my breath while simultaneously refusing to take a moment to breath because I simply had to know what would happen next. If you're looking for high stakes and faced paced, this is the series for you.

Character Development
While this whole series was incredibly action packed and this book was no exception, this novel had the strongest character development of the series. I really loved seeing everyone come to accept their own flaws and make changes in pursuit of the greater good.

Writing
I can't believe this series was Andrea's debut. She created a truly unique and extensive world with several POVs without overwhelming the reader. I loved reading each character's story and seeing how they intertwined.

Final Thoughts
There were a few things about the conclusion that I didn't love, but I do think it ended in a way that was fitting to the rest of the story, even if I wanted things to be a little different.

Read this series for:
- LGBTQ+ Rep
- Multi POV
- Lovable oversized otter-like companions
- Enemies to lovers
- Political intrigue

----4.5/5 stars!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

After finishing The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart, all I can say is wow! I had no idea how Ms. Stewart would end this fabulous series, but I knew it would be epic. She exceeded even my expectations!

In The Bone Shard War, Ms. Stewart develops a fitting end for all the characters. Before they reach their appropriate endings, though, she makes them work for them. Jovis, in particular, goes through hell and back. His pain and suffering are almost too difficult to bear; I could barely finish those sections.

After three books, I can safely say that everyone needs a Mephi as their companion. By the end of the second book, we already know that ossalen are special, but Mephi becomes a character in his own right in The Bone Shard War. He becomes Jovis' conscience and support system. Their bond grows even closer, so much so that it tears your heart apart to see them having such difficult times together.

Speaking of the ossalen, we finally learn their purpose and connections to the bone magic and the islands. I had some ideas, but Ms. Stewart shocked me with the full details. That is only one of the missing pieces to Lin's ongoing predicament. Once we finally obtain all the puzzle pieces, the action kicks up a notch, and there is a rush to the end.

As expected, Ms. Stewart's execution is perfection, and The Bone Shard War does not disappoint. As I mentioned, I am happy with how Ms. Stewart ended her saga. I will miss Jovis, Lin, and Mephi, and I will miss this world. Ms. Stewart made the entire series immersive and enjoyable. I can't wait to see what she does next!

Source: DRC via NetGalley (Orbit Books, Orbit) in exchange for an honest review
Publication Date: April 18, 2023
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon

Other books in the series: The Bone Shard Daughter (#1), The Bone Shard Emperor (#2)

Why did I choose to read this book?

I didn’t have a choice. After the cliffhanger of The Bone Shard Emperor, Andrea Stewart basically forced me to read this book. To be clear, I didn’t mind, but reading this book was an imperative not a choice.

What is this book about?

This book is about starting over. The Empire, the islands, the Alanga, relationships, expectations of ourselves and each other – all of it. Hit the goddamn restart button because honey, this is a wild hot MESS and whatever all these people are doing is NOT working. If anything it’s making everything WAY worse. Some of the characters are actively trying to burn everything down so there isn’t even anything to restart! Oh no!

Be warned though, that starting over can have consequences that, um…aren’t so great.

What is notable about this story?

There are very real dangers in the conclusion to this trilogy. Ragan, the monk turned Alanga, has not only figured out what the white-bladed swords do but has actually started using them for that purpose and, as Mephi would say, that is a very bad. Third books often lack tension because you know things are usually going to work out, but in this trilogy failure is an option, and Stewart will keep you guessing until the very end.

The reveal(s) about ossalen was(were) spectacular. You will cry. Prepare yourself.

THE ENDING: it was perfect, and it’s rare for me to say that. It was just as good as the ending for Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy, which blew me away.

Was anything not so great?

In the acknowledgements the author states that this final book was more of a struggle than the previous two, and I could really tell. A great example of this was the repetitiveness of Ranami’s storyline. She was a street urchin, we get it. The number of times I had to read “grew up on the streets” was too many times. If Stewart wanted to give us a deeper connection to Ranami’s past and her trauma, we needed flashbacks or like, a “point 5” novella or something (re: Sightwitch in Susan Dennard’s Witchlands series). It’s already been established that Ranami (and their adopted daughter Ayesh) are street urchins with traumatic pasts. Trust the reader to carry that knowledge with them, especially into the third book in a series where this character has featured prominently.

The good news is that while this overly repetitive pattern finds its way into most of the storylines of this book, it misses Jovis’s. He and Mephi weave in and out of all the others, and experience change and growth the entire way. I would even go so far as to say that this was Jovis’ story all along – Jovis is the shining star of all 3 books. A very good, as Mephi would say.

This wasn’t enough to cause me to not read the book, I’m only mentioning it here because it was so notable compared to the other two books in the trilogy. The ending is so amazing and makes all the drawn out plotlines feel worth it, so please just take this critique with a grain of salt and finish the trilogy.

What’s the verdict?

4 stars on Goodreads and a worthy conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. The imagination behind this world, this magic, this history, these characters, is an imagination to applaud. You’ve finished triumphantly, Andrea Stewart. Congratulations.

If you haven’t started this trilogy yet and you are a fantasy fan, you owe it to yourself to get started. Meet Mephi and Jovis and follow them through. You’ll be better for it.

I'm sorry to say that my most anticipated read of the year was kind of a flop for me. I LOVED Bone Shard Daughter and Bone Shard Emperor, and after that book 2 cliffhanger I could not wait to read what happened to my favs. However, book 3 opens to a time jump... all the angst and cliffhanger feelings are erased, while the reader is left to try and piece together just what has been happening since the end of book 2. The answer? not really that much. Lin thinks Jovis is dead, and all the islands are still being difficult. Jovis' actually alive and well though, and being controlled by Kaphra with bone shard magic. Somehow with all of Jovis' past experience with getting around bone shard magic rules when it comes to constructs, he's not sure how to apply that same strategy when he, himself is the one being controlled. This leads to not nearly enough Mephi and Jovis banter/hijinks because Kaphra is using Mephi as an incentive to make Jovis do his bidding without a fight. (did I mention that Jovis and Lin are separated for at least 75% of this book?!?)
Also, for some reason Nisong hooks up with the crazy asshole monk Ragan, which kind of made sense until they became romantically involved for no reason ... bleh.
As for the Shardless Few -their leader Dione (the secret ancient Alanga guy) still refuses to work with Lin for what amounts to literally mindless prejudice, to the point of idiocy - like he was never dumb in the first 2 books, but now he's just made difficult to be difficult. It just felt like the author didn't know how to tie together all these characters and their ideals together within the world she built. As a result this conclusion was clunky and all over the place. This series just deserved a better ending, and where the characters ended up at the end? ughhh I just don't know how to feel about it. Will I read Stewart's next series? yes. Am I still bummed that this was a flop read for me? (hint I'm devastated)

The end of a very decent trilogy that should not disappoint those who have read the previous books in the series. Characters remained for the most part the same and will be liked or disliked for who they are hopefully. I would say Jovis and Lin are the two best characters of the series but other characters and that includes the animal companions are possibly favorites of others. They were not really animals but people as much as the human characters were I think. Certainly more could have done with them and their stories if given time. This ending of the trilogy brought into focus in some of the political and ethical battles that can occur when trying to change a government or a society. It also in some parts felt like a romance considering the couples in the book. The journey they took was.one that should have been one hope, joy, sadness and many other emotions. I did enjoy reading this bok and the previous books in the series but after reading The Bone Shard Emperor again I still liked it but it wasn't as good the first time. I think the same may hold true for this book however that's just for me that could be true. For a debut writer Andrea Stewart has certainly done a very well with this trilogy and will be interesting to see what comes next from her. Thanks to the author and her publishers for not just one good book but a well done trilogy.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023. I love this series so much, and this finale met all of my expectations. It had plenty of action, insightful commentary on timely themes, fascinating world-building, and emotional character moments. The writing was excellent and easy to read, as always with Stewart, and the pace constantly pulled me forward, restless to see what would happen next. I finished this 600+ page chonker in less than two days because I just could not put it down.

I'm at somewhat of a loss for what else to say... After the end of the second book, the empire was a bit of a mess with several different factions vying for control. They all seemed to want meaningful change in how the empire treats its people, but each of them had very different motivations and ideas about what the change should look like. Some wanted the people to have more power. Others wanted power for themselves. Many wanted revenge for the history of imperial oppression and genocide. It created a hotbed of compelling conflict that was fascinating to read. That being said, I really could have used a recap of the first two books at the beginning of this one. I definitely recommend re-reading the previous stories before this one because it took me a while to remember all the major players and past conflicts that set up the tensions in this one.

I enjoyed the world-building quite a bit. It brought everything together in ways that made sense and tied up the loose ends really well. I liked that the magical focus shifted to a melding of the Alanga and bone shard magic rather than one or the other as in previous books, and the connection between the two was interesting to learn. Of course, there were plenty of ossalen in this story, as well. So, if you were wanting to meet even more of these adorable creatures, you're in luck, and I loved getting more info about them.

As I mentioned above, the story itself was expansive with tons of moving parts. It utilized multiple POVs, just as in the previous books, to get a window into each of the various factions of the conflict. All of it came together very well, but it did feel bloated at times, especially during the middle of the book. The race for the magical swords, while interesting, ran on a bit too long before coming to the point, and it felt like it took too long to come back to certain POVs at times. For example, Jovis and Mephi seemed largely sidelined for the first half of the book, and Ranami's story felt abandoned at times because of the gaps between her chapters. It also made the timeline feel weird because so much happened in the other POVs while Ranami's story seemed like it barely moved forward at all. That being said, I commend the author for her ability to weave together all the disparate story threads, from this book and the others, into a cohesive and compelling narrative. It was wild seeing all of it pay off in deeply satisfying ways. I'll definitely miss this story now that it is over, but I absolutely loved the journey and its resolution.

There's so much to say about the characters that I'm just not even going to try. lol. Instead, I'm going to give you my brief reaction to each POV, and you'll just have to read the book to find out more. I was super proud of Lin and the decisions she made, especially at the end. Ranami's story ended in a way that I really wasn't expecting but probably should have known was coming because it was perfect for her. Nisong/Sand was surprising and made me both sad and hopeful. Speaking of sad, Jovis and Mephi had me BAWLING my eyes out. I love them and their relationship so much, and there were so many moments that hurt so bad.

There were several great themes in this story. One of the most prominent in this installment was the focus on learning from the past without being consumed by it. This was explored on both a societal and individual level, as many of the characters struggled with coming to terms with their past and how it impacted their actions and motivations in the present. The story also explored how best to implement change to a broken system. Each of the main players had a different take on revolution, and it was interesting to see the various approaches battle it out in real time. Should they burn the empire to the ground? Should they try to fix the system from within? Should one person wield the power to make efficient changes or should all the people have a say? These are timeless questions, and the story really made me stop to think about them.

I had the absolute pleasure of listening to the audiobook while following along with the text. If you have the opportunity to do the same, I highly recommend it. The narrators were fantastic and added so much personality to these characters that I already loved so much. The male narrator for Jovis was probably my favorite just because of the way he did Mephi's voice. It was perfect, and he captured the essence of Mephi so well. Overall, this was a phenomenal conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. It felt truly epic and provided a satisfying resolution to the over-arching story and each character's personal journey. Therefore, I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Introduction

This is a difficult review to write.

When The Bone Shard Daughter came out in 2020, I picked it up because this sub was hyping it up. I read The Bone Shard Daughter, and had a great time. I didn't love the book, but I damn well liked it; today, I would rate it 4 stars. Between The Bone Shard Daughter and The Bone Shard Emperor I got a lot of people to read the series on discord who I became good friends with. In that same time, I became friendly with the author, Andrea Stewart, on Twitter, and eventually because we weren't able to meet up at World Fantasy Con where she would give me a physical ARC of The Bone Shard Emperor, she mailed me one instead. That was an amazing act of kindness that I won't forget. So I read The Bone Shard Emperor in all its early physical glory and it was fantastic. I had my criticisms but I loved the book, and that was sort of the green light for those members of my discord communities who hadn't yet read the series but were interested in it to pick it up and read it. Even today, I would give BSE 5 stars.

I tell you all this because nobody wanted to like The Bone Shard War more than me. When it was delayed, I was a little sad that I'd have to wait a bit longer for the conclusion to one of my favorite series (though the reason it was delayed was a good one: children). I'd loved the first two books, made friends and built communities out of them, and loved the author as a person. I would probably still give BSW a 5 star even if it wasn't as good as BSE just for those reasons.

Unfortunately, this was not the exciting conclusion I was expecting, but a more disappointing ending to the series for me. Some of my feelings might be explained by my tastes changing over time, but I think this book has some major flaws that make it a weak and unfulfilling conclusion. I still like enough parts of it that I'd give it 3 stars (which for me means that it's middle of the road, not bad but not good either, though it tends to lean more negative for me since I give most books 4-5 stars). But I do want to state clearly here: this series and this ending is still worth reading. There's a lot of good in this series, and I will get into that.

What I Like

Let me talk about a few things I like, first. Every single character relationship in this book is brilliant. Every single last one of them. If there's one thing that Andrea Stewart nailed 100% it is the fucking relationships. Lin and Phalue's tenuous alliance and friendship. The ironclad loyal friendship of Jovis and Mephi. The yearning romance of Lin and Jovis and the quietly mature relationship of Phalue and Ranami. The parent-child relationship of Ranami and Ayesh, the horribly abusive dynamics of Kaphra and Jovis and Sand/Nisong and Ragan, and the hero-villain dynamics between our protagonists and Dione and Ragan. Every moment regarding any of these relationships or more landed, and landed hard. This book did make me cry, though admittedly I kind of cry easily these days lol.

I'm also still a really big fan of the way this world feels. While the world obviously has both Asian and Polynesian influences, it doesn't really feel like either of them; it feels quite unique. While I could've used more description of the world throughout the series so that I could see it better, I definitely got a strong sense of what it felt like, especially the islands of Imperial and Nephilanu where most of our action takes place. At the end of the series, I might even want to live here, if they solved the whole "islands are sinking" problem.

I also really really liked the final scenes and denouement of the book. I don't like the climax, but everything after the climax is brilliant.

So that's where the things I wholly love come to an end. There's more I do love, but those two things together make up most of the 3 stars the book earns from me.

Structure Critiques

1. The biggest single problem with The Bone Shard War is that there is no war until the last 20-25% of the book (I double-checked). In fact, the entire first half of the book features one pair of characters setting out on what feels like a big side quest to fetch magical swords featured in a subplot of BSE, rather than focusing on progressing the political or war plots. This is a six hundred page book, and three hundred of them feature something that feels so irrelevant that at one point even Lin herself remarks "hmm, maybe I should have stayed on Imperial and focused on solving the main problem rather than hoping the swords would solve problems for me." Like the swords are important magical devices for sure, but even in the end they aren't that important to the plot. They play a somewhat important role but you could write them out and it wouldn't feel like you are missing something.
Something one of my friends said to me feels relevant here: the magic became uninteresting in this book. It was one of the most interesting parts of the first book, and even somewhat the second book, but in this book the absence of the rule-based bone shard magic and its replacement with the flimsy elemental Alanga magic really crippled it. The upsurge in the importance of the swords to the plot feels like a way to keep the magic interesting and not have it rely entirely on the Alanga magic, but ironically it makes the book less interesting as a result.

2) Another problem with this book is that the politics of this book really betrayed the lack of depth to the worldbuilding. This was a minor problem in BSE, but the reason why that book could get away with it was that all the politics really focused on developing Lin's character arc, so even though the politics couldn't really stand on their own, it had specific ramifications on the character arcs that made it work. Here, there is no character arc; the politics is its own thing, and it doesn't work. The conflict over witstone and caro nuts is interesting in theory, but in practice, every island uses them the same ways and faces almost the same exact challenges. For those who have read The Green Bone Saga, you can note the way each individual country uses jade and shine is different from the next; none of that depth is present here, and that makes the politics quite shallow and dull comparatively.

3) The first half of this book is also really weak at handling payoff. While I do like all the character relationships present in this book, the first half of the book—300 pages—focuses on relationships we have invested less time into, and keeps both sets of primary relationships separate from each other.
One of my favorite parts of reading final books in a series is seeing low-stakes relationship payoff moments in the first half of the book, and then high-stakes ones later. For Wheel of Time fans, think of that big meeting in the tent at the start of A Memory of Light. For Expanse fans, think of the Roci scenes at the start of Leviathan Falls. For Red Rising fans, think of the moments Darrow shares with Sevro, Ragnar, and Victra at the start of Morning Star. For First Law fans, think of the Jezal or Logen scenes at the start of The Last Argument of Kings. For Lady Trent fans, think of a particular scene at a university at the start of Within the Sanctuary of Wings. You all know what I'm talking about—this book did none of that in the first half. So we were already off to a rather unsatisfying start as I'd have to wait a long while to get those moments. That is not crippling on its own, but when paired with these other structural problems, as well as the more scene-focused problems I'll get to below, it just adds fuel to the fire.

4) Finally, the themes. This series really wants to talk about how a single monarch can inherently not look after the common person, while weighing that against the benefits of monarchy. Ultimately, I felt that it wasn't very effective at showing the plight of the common people besides shouting "caro nuts!" over and over again (tying into the worldbuilding problems as well), and idk, that is a problem that I felt Lin understood very well. At the same time, I felt it did a rather poor job of defending monarchy as well. Not that monarchy is an ideal form of government in my opinion, but if you want to do a proper thematic investigation into monarchy and why democracy would be better, you need to not ignore the benefits of monarchy, but instead represent them well and show why those benefits are outweighed by the benefits of democracy. Otherwise, the story comes across preachy and un-nuanced—and this one did.

Scene-Level Critiques

5) While the plot structure is the biggest problem with the book generally, the thing that bothers me most is a specific scene-level problem that came up over and over in the book: people change their minds very quickly, and always in the most inconvenient way for the characters. Don't get me wrong, things being inconvenient for the characters is generally a good thing, because conflict is a good thing.

But here's where the issue comes in: say a group of NPCs is following a leader. Another leader challenges for control. If we are supposed to prefer the first leader, the entire group of NPCs will listen to both speeches and automatically cheer for the second leader, with almost nobody remaining behind with the first leader—certainly nobody outspoken. It comes across contrived and somewhat unrealistic, and makes the NPCs appear fickle and indecisive; the author's hand is visible all over it.

But fine, those are just NPCs, it is a forgivable critique because it creates a problem rather than solves one, so even if it's not handled cleanly it can still lead to good character moments. But the problem is, this same quick mind-changing nature afflicts our main characters as well, especially Lin and Nisong/Sand who go from stubbornly refusing to change their minds to suddenly flipping on a dime when they've been backed into a corner. And it's not just giving into a decision but not being happy about it—it's the whole thought process of the character changing as well, and for major issues regarding the major themes of the series. (Comically, there was one chapter in the book that featured at least three mind-changes in different directions from the same character in just a few pages.)

6) I also didn't really like the fight scenes of this book. I don't know if this is a problem in the previous books, but in this one, I found myself being taken out in every fight scene by how much combatants talk to each other constantly. That's not really how fights work, I think. I could see it working once in a while, just for the sake of drama, but they are straight up having deep conversations about imperial policy and whatnot while in a high-level sword duel every couple of chapters! (Okay, that is admittedly a slight exaggeration. It was not every couple of chapters, but it was frequent.)

7) I'm also going to put the Alanga magic in this section of the review. Earlier I said it was flimsy and uninteresting, but there's another part to it—because of the lack of defined rules that allows the reader to understand how the magic works, nearly every time the magic was used to solve problems I found it unsatisfying and very deus ex machina. And unfortunately, this happened at least five to six times in the book, including the climax.

Some other critiques

- I found the writing of one character's trauma/PTSD in this book to be somewhat unbelievable. It makes sense they would have trauma/PTSD, but it more often came up when it would be inconvenient for the character to have trauma/PTSD, and was forgotten when it would be convenient for them to not have it. That was frustrating.

- Littlefinger's teleportation device from the final seasons of Game of Thrones was present in this book. One of the villains here just seems to teleport from island to island wherever he can cause the most problems. "On that villain grindset," as one friend said.

- I don't remember if this was a thing in the earlier books, but I was really bothered by the prose style in this book, and how the author makes a lot of dramatic single-sentence paragraphs—at least one on every page. It made the writing needlessly dramatic for me.

Conclusion

Okay, so that's a lot of critiques. But I'm still giving this book 3 stars. Some of that might be my bias—I want to like this book, so giving it less than 3 stars feels off. It's also because I can forgive a lot if you give me some really really good character relationships and moments, and while this book didn't give it to me in the ways I wanted, it really delivered the relationships it chose to focus on with perfection.

And I also do think the series is still worth reading and recommending. The first book is good. The second book is great. And even this book has a lot going for it, and some of my friends like it more than I do, because my criticisms don't matter as much to them as they do to me. So I hope you will all read it and join the conversation, and I'm really curious for your thoughts.

I’m so sad this trilogy is over! I read the books all in a row, so thankfully didn’t have a chance to forget anything. This series has such interesting magic and world building. I was connected with the characters and invested in them. Lin and Jovis were both so well developed. This final book was everything I wanted it to be! The reveals had my jaw dropping and the way things clicked together was satisfying. The ending was a good balance of realistic but also fulfilling. I definitely recommend reading this series from start to finish!